Intel posts x86-friendly Android 4.0 image, lets you feel the need for speed

[wraggster]

http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2012/05/intel-android-image.jpg (http://www.engadget.com/2012/05/24/intel-posts-x86-friendly-android-4-0-image/)Android developers are all too familiar with not-so-hot emulator performance (http://www.engadget.com/2012/04/09/googles-android-emulator-gets-updated-with-gpu-support-better/), so it's a relief that there's now an system image in a native x86 for testing. While you'll still likely want to test on ARM, the x86 image will both help ferret out bugs specific to Intel's architecture as well as provide a much faster experience debugging apps now that the ARM-to-Intel translation isn't needed on top of running a whole second operating system. It's not perfectly up to date, running on Android 4.0.3, but it's close enough that the environment will mimic much of what users see -- and a big help if you're jumping into writing specifically for Intel devices. If speed is of the essence, or you're not keen on importing a Lava Xolo X900 (http://www.engadget.com/2012/02/27/intels-xolo-x900-by-lava-hands-on/), you just need to update the SDK Manager to start testing with an Intel-flavored green robot.

http://www.engadget.com/2012/05/24/intel-posts-x86-friendly-android-4-0-image/